Scotland’s Employment Minister Jamie Hepburn, who was also contacted, said: “These claims are deeply concerning and its absolutely right that Gillian Martin has raised this with the UK government, which has responsibility in this area.

“The north east has a highly-talented oil and gas workforce with skills that can be utilised in a wide range of different sectors, including renewables, construction, decommissioning and many others.

“The Energy Jobs Taskforce has brought together key partners to maximise employment opportunities and we have set up a £12m Transition Training Fundthat has so far enabled more than 1,500 former oil and gas workers to receive support for training from the fund.”